


The Kindness of a Friend

by Celandine



Series: Narnia Sequence [5]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Ficlet, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-03-12
Updated: 2009-03-12
Packaged: 2017-10-12 04:03:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 296
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Celandine/pseuds/Celandine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Friendship can be found in unexpected places.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Kindness of a Friend

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ellid (Ellidfics)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellidfics/gifts).



The porcelain was cold under Edmund's fingers as he gripped the edge of the bowl, his stomach heaving. The door to the lavatory slammed. Edmund tensed, then relaxed a fraction when he heard Hodge's voice.

"You all right, Pevensie?"

Edmund wiped his mouth on the back of his hand and managed to say, "All right, yes."

He rose, brushing futilely at his trouser knees, and pulled the chain to flush. Taking a shallow breath, he went out of the stall to meet Hodge's concerned face.

It _would_ be Hodge who had come to see how he was. Any of the other boys would have worried that doing so might lessen them in their peers' eyes, but Hodge, at six-foot-two and sixteen stone, was so clearly and overpoweringly masculine that he never seemed to have any such fears. He could show compassion for his fellows and not feel that it made him look like a pansy. Edmund rather liked him, and often helped him with his prep in Latin and Maths, the two subjects in which Edmund excelled. Hodge, for all his prowess on the rugby field and kind nature, was thick as a brick when it came to scholarly attainment. No leisurely years at Oxbridge lay in _his_ future.

"I'm all right," Edmund repeated, and Hodge thumped him gently on the shoulder.

"Steak and kidney pie a bit off today, d'you think?" he asked.

"Might have been," Edmund agreed, although he knew perfectly well what had made him ill, and it wasn't the school dinner. But there was no way that he could or would explain to Hodge or anyone else that he could not bear the sight of the box that had been passed around the common room -- two pounds of the best Turkish Delight.

**Author's Note:**

> For ellid, who wanted Edmund, Turkish Delight.


End file.
